The value of through trains

The promise of new through trains seemed to be a pre-requisite to getting a franchise.

In his timetable review (RAIL 949), Barry Doe refers to the new through services from London to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough (Table 020), the Liverpool Lime Street to Glasgow Central services (Table 100), and the muchcampaigned-for London to Blackpool service (Table 65).

However, he reports that

CrossCountry through services (Table 50) have not been restored.

Since March 2020, the hourly through services from Reading to the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East have not run. This has caused considerable inconvenience - not least to users who now find themselves changing at Birmingham New Street. This is made even more difficult if they have luggage and the misfortune to use the ‘A’ end.

The ‘Visiting Friends and Relations’ category has been an important component of the CrossCountry business. These people may be more dependent on having a through service.

I would not argue that service patterns must be frozen in aspic. But the curtailment of through services is part of a pattern with CrossCountry, where

Reading has already lost direct services to Liverpool and Brighton.

The good thing on this occasion is that the operator, the Department for Transport or even a consultant could look at the trends in use between many pairs of stations where through services have continued (for example, Oxford and Manchester) and other pairs where it has not (for example, Oxford and York).

This before and after study could show the revenue benefits (or not) of through trains and provide important evidence for planning future rail services.

Jim Dunning, Wokingham